Choosing the Right Monolight

[rmango]

I've been getting by with speedlights so far, but I've booked my first few weddings now coming up in the summer and I'm not so sure my speedlights are gonna cut it anymore. My question is, though, how powerful do these monolights need to be for me to get decent family portraits inside a church and some cool photos at the receptions? I don't have a huge budget but I'm willing to spend the money to get the right lights the first time. I'm a student so i can get 2 400ws Genesis monolights from Calumet for $490... but are those powerful enough? My next choice would be 2 800ws Alienbee kit for $737. Any tips? thanks!

[zona5101]

just to make sure I understand... you're talking about lighting a static setup, a posed group shot...not using monolights instead of flash for the ceremony/reception.

If the former, either set up will work...

[rmango]

Originally Posted by zona5101

just to make sure I understand... you're talking about lighting a static setup, a posed group shot...not using monolights instead of flash for the ceremony/reception.

If the former, either set up will work...

I'm basically just talking about purchasing monolights in general, but mainly for shooting weddings. I'm wondering which brand and level of power will service my needs the best.

[zona5101]

what I was trying to get to was whether you are planning to use monolight(s) to light the church ceremony and the reception activities or just use them to do static posed shots of the B/G & bridal party. In the later, not too much of a problem, in the former a lot more to consider first being why.

Either one of those kits you mentioned will do the job and have enough power. You can't buy too much power so I would steer towards the AB kit (or one of the bigger Calumet or Photoflex kits). You'll probably want umbrellas and/or a softbox.

[stefantell]

I think Strobist did a little piece on just that last year (2010), look for "Choosing the big lights" or something like that. Might be helpful?

When I use studio lights, I often turn down the effect to its lowest setting, but outdoor it is something completely different. If you chose a powerful light, make sure you can turn it down to a level of light you can work with indoor as well. Or buy a lot of ND-filters.

And don't forget to check the secondhand-market, one brand might have a lot more used & cheap modifiers for sale when you want to expand.

Good luck

[Dajuan]

Actually you can buy too much light. Let me provide you a recent example from a bridal portrait I recently photographed. In the second and third photo, I placed a strobe & softbox to the side of the bride set at it's lowest power. When I metered the light, it was about f/4 or so. My shutter speed was already very low for the 85mm lens I was using w/o a tripod. Having a tripod would have allowed me to lower my shutter speed further in order to increase the amount of ambient light. If I could have lowered the power on my strobe, I could have reduced the aperture, which also would have increased the ambient light appearance versus the strobe. Oh, and I was only using a Photogenic 320B, at it's lowest setting. My advice, don't rush out and buy a mega watt strobe unless you know that is what you need. Keep in mind it's lowest power output and your likely shooting scenarios.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by Dajuan

Actually you can buy too much light. Let me provide you a recent example from a bridal portrait I recently photographed. In the second and third photo, I placed a strobe & softbox to the side of the bride set at it's lowest power. When I metered the light, it was about f/4 or so. My shutter speed was already very low for the 85mm lens I was using w/o a tripod. Having a tripod would have allowed me to lower my shutter speed further in order to increase the amount of ambient light. If I could have lowered the power on my strobe, I could have reduced the aperture, which also would have increased the ambient light appearance versus the strobe. Oh, and I was only using a Photogenic 320B, at it's lowest setting. My advice, don't rush out and buy a mega watt strobe unless you know that is what you need. Keep in mind it's lowest power output and your likely shooting scenarios.

cheaper to buy a nd filter than to underbuy your light output and have to buy more light later when you need it...